Sherlock Holmes The Awakened

I am aware that Frogwares is facing some pretty abhorent working conditions during the creation of this game, but I still bought it, so here are my honest thoughts. Honestly, I recommend reading the IGN article, as it sums up my feelings of this game. The character models, or graphical presentation is fine, or at least not something I really noticed, but the other aspects stand. The story is disjointed in the later game, with some sequences seeming completely out of place to what was actually experienced. The game is extremely similar to the original, with some of the weird action minigames taken out, so kudos there, as they felt out of place in the original. Unfortunately, none of the improvements found in Chapter One made it here. There is no open world, hardly any side missions, no combat, and no disguises. While that game was by no means perfect, I felt that it was an interesting step and I was excited to see what they would do next with it. Hopefully when the war is over, they can complete their next title to their previous level of quality and finesse. Overall, I do not regret buying this game, it provided me with some solid entertainment value, however I would not recommend buying it unless you can get it for sale.

Amateur de la série de JV depuis la découverte avec Crime and punishment et depuis longtemps du personnage de Sherlock Holmes. J'ai participé au financement et ne regrette pas, malgré quelques petits défauts, surtout que j'ai fait ce dernier dans la foulée de Chapter One. - Le jeu est un poil trop court, malgré l'ajout de quelques quêtes annexes qui semble ne pas être présente dans l'original. (un peu plus de 10h pour le 100% en prenant son temps et sans avoir l'original) - Les passages dans l'autre monde sont assez fade en terme de visuel. - Des QTE dans la partie finale. Sérieusement je n'aime pas les films interactifs. - Pas d'utilisation des déguisements, ils nous sont directement imposés dans certains passages. - Le contenu dédié à Lovecraft met bcp de tps à arriver. Maintenant ce que j'ai trouvé génial : - La possibilité de refaire l'ensemble des chapitres, ce que ne permet pas Chapter One étant donné sa structure plus ouverte. - Les points d'expériences pour débloquer du contenu bonus, visiblement réussi du premier coup les déductions permet de récupérer plus de points d'expérience et donc de débloquer davantages de bonus. (J'ai réussi à débloquer quasiment les 2/3), cela évite le brute force. Parfois ce sont juste des artworks, mais parfois des tenues. (toutes repompés de Chapter One) - L'évolution de la relation entre Watson et Sherlock avec l'obligation de jouer Watson dans certains moments. - Une meilleure maîtrise de l'Unreal Engine, les barbes sont moins vilaines. - Presque pas de combats, le mini-jeu de crochetage est simple mais marrant. - L'humour et l'écriture de façon globale, même si le scénario a parfois du mal à nous tenir en haleine sur la longueur.

The game is relatively short, but I don't see that as a negative. It doesn't drag things out with pointless filler. The game is mostly logical. there is one section of the game where its not completely clear about what to do next even if you have figured out exactly what is going on and know what you should be doing next. Its only a minor issue though. I enjoyed the story, and it does a pretty good job of building atmosphere. I wish it would lean a bit more into the supernatural elements. If you are doing a Lovecraft Sherlock Holmes story, you might as well go all in especially with a Sinking City 2 coming out being unlikely. I guess that might cause issues because it seems to be canon with Chapter One. Overall, I enjoyed the game, and I look forward to what Frogwares does next. I will happily back another kickstarter, especially considering the situation in Ukraine.

I didn't know the original version of this game existed until this remake was announced, but when I heard about it, there was something about the premise that made total sense to me. I love the idea of the world's greatest detective tackling a macabre mystery that tiptoes between the real and unreal, that incorporates his knack for finding patterns, clues, and insight with a mythos in which insight and knowledge inevitably lead to madness. I still really love that idea, even if unfortunately, this version doesn't quite pull it off in the way I was hoping. Experientally, pretty much all the thoughts I had for Sherlock: Chapter One apply to this game as well. In every respect, from the gameplay to the graphics to the storytelling, SHA is promising but flawed, and every improvement is also accompanied by a new annoyance. The game's scope, for example, is significantly reined in. This is great. Dense, lived in levels will always feel more substantial than open worlds. Unfortunately, that also means that most mechanics which you performed by making use of the open world, like visiting town halls, police stations, and libraries to verify information, are now limited to specific instances in which you just do all the same actions in the main menu, which doesn't really make sense. The story, meanwhile, has all the similar charms and jank of the previous game. The dialogue can alternate between being genuinely sharp (Holmes and Watson are a winning pair of goobers) and bafflingly stupid (almost all the side characters are really rough). The setup is incredibly intriguing, but once it gets going, it never really pays off in the thoughtful way that I hoped. That said, I'm glad I played SHA, and I'm very excited for SC2. That this studio has continued to make art in the face of oppression is a testament to real resilience, and it's rare that something so imperfect can make me feel so proud of what humans are capable of, even in the worst conditions imaginable.

I'm a big fan of the sherlock game series especially crimes and punishment but this game simply feels very outdated with the series not progressing enough to a modern standard. The good parts of the game are the mystery elements with Sherlock and Watson piecing together clues gathered from items, interrogations and examining the environment for clues. This is where the game is at it's strongest point as you piece together events and uncover what happened for each case. There is no real failure state in this game as you can just mash together clues until eventually you hit the right decision and find who the perpetrator of the crime is. The map itself is incredibly basic and is lacking in detail for larger areas, this becomes confusing when tracking multiple cases as you can't really tell where you are or what area of the map you have to go to. You will end up spending a lot of time just wandering the area aimlessly hoping to find the right location because the map system is so incredibly poor. The graphics feel incredibly outdated for a remake that was released in 2023, character models and textures look like they came from 2015, animations look rather wonky and some of the areas look incredibly bland texture wise. This game is fun when doing the investigations but the outdated mechanics and clunky nature of the game make it tedious when trying to get to this point.